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Electromagnetic Speaker Conversion


unclej

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ok, a buddy brought me an old gretch class a amp that he wants to barter for. he buys and sells guitars and amps for a living and got this one real cheap. he's not interested in keeping the amp but wants the speaker out of it to re-sell. it's an old hammond organ electromagnetic speaker out of the 60's. it's probably not the original speaker but the wiring to power it is. while researching the speaker i find that hammond says that it can be replaced in an organ with a permanent magnet speaker if a 700-ohm 20-Watt resistor is placed in the circuit.

if i place that same resistor between the two wires that power the magnet in the speaker can i then install a regular speaker in the amp?

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ok, a buddy brought me an old gretch class a amp that he wants to barter for. he buys and sells guitars and amps for a living and got this one real cheap. he's not interested in keeping the amp but wants the speaker out of it to re-sell. it's an old hammond organ electromagnetic speaker out of the 60's. it's probably not the original speaker but the wiring to power it is. while researching the speaker i find that hammond says that it can be replaced in an organ with a permanent magnet speaker if a 700-ohm 20-Watt resistor is placed in the circuit.

if i place that same resistor between the two wires that power the magnet in the speaker can i then install a regular speaker in the amp?

Yes.

You might pick up some additional hum as the electromagnetic speaker winding acts more as a choke than a straight resistor. You could use a choke instead of a resistor if the hum becomes a problem.

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ok, a buddy brought me an old gretch class a amp that he wants to barter for. he buys and sells guitars and amps for a living and got this one real cheap. he's not interested in keeping the amp but wants the speaker out of it to re-sell. it's an old hammond organ electromagnetic speaker out of the 60's. it's probably not the original speaker but the wiring to power it is. while researching the speaker i find that hammond says that it can be replaced in an organ with a permanent magnet speaker if a 700-ohm 20-Watt resistor is placed in the circuit.

if i place that same resistor between the two wires that power the magnet in the speaker can i then install a regular speaker in the amp?

Yes.

You might pick up some additional hum as the electromagnetic speaker winding acts more as a choke than a straight resistor. You could use a choke instead of a resistor if the hum becomes a problem.

thanks joe..i appreciate the help. i haven't seen your name before..hope you're enjoying your time here.

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Does the amp have an output transformer in it? On some of those old EM speakers, the coil acted as a transformer as well as "energizing" the speaker.

there is a smaller transformer that appears to power the magnet as well as well as handling the signal output. if i get a chance i'll post a pic this morning. it's a moot point now though. he decided i could have the speaker as well so i can just make a new cab for it and not worry about the conversion.

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